Helipad Appeal

Because of you…we can save more lives

#PreparingToLandDid you know we are in the final stages of fundraising for a new helipad within the hospital complex? We need to raise a final £760,000 (the equivalent of just £8 for every person treated in our Emergency Department alone last year) to stay on track to be operational by 2021.

We want to improve accessibility to our emergency medicine facilities for our local community, to ensure everyone has access to our care when they really need it. We are so excited to be planning this life saving facility and would welcome your support in helping us to make it happen.

The benefits of a helipad at the L&DWhen someone suffers a major trauma; the quicker they receive specialist emergency care, the more likely it is that the treatment will prevent death or serious disability. This is often referred to as the ‘Golden Hour’, when emergency services strive to get patients to the most appropriate place for lifesaving care within an hour of sustaining their injury. Helicopters offer a much more reliable way of transporting critically ill patients, as they significantly reduce travel time compared to a land ambulance.

The Emergency Department at the L&D is renowned as one of the best in the country and treats over 90,000 people each year. Approximately 25% of these have life threatening injuries and require immediate and specialist medical care.

There is currently no helipad providing direct access to the hospital and no 24/7 helipads specifically for Herts, Beds and Bucks. At present, while it is possible on some occasions to airlift patients to the hospital, the helicopters must land in a local playing field and the patient is then transferred over the final distance by road. Air ambulances travel from Northamptonshire and Cambridgeshire to get to patients, and if the road journey from the current landing location to the hospital is deemed too risky, these patients can be taken to the nearest emergency helipad; 25 miles away, rather than being brought to the L&D.

In addition to the care that a helipad would enable the L&D to provide, it would also make our hospital the only Level 3 NICU in the country (neonatal critical care unit capable of caring for very small or very sick babies) with 24-hour helipad access.

We need your supportThanks to the support of our local community, and a remarkable donation of £3.5m from HELP Appeal, we have already raised an incredible £6.24 million of our £7m fundraising target. We are still actively seeking your support to raise the remaining money needed to make our vision a reality.